Bonsai Master

A bonsai is much more than a minimalist version of a mighty tree. Behind the miracle of a beautiful appearance is the tireless work of the creator's hands.

Such a creator is Manuel Fermín Moya Castro. Everything about him, his soft, serious voice, elegant manners and delightful conversation, reveals his deeply spiritual nature. An orator and singer in the early 1960s, bonsai entered his life by chance. "I lived in San Vicente, in eastern Santiago de Cuba, and one day it occurred to me to plant a small tree in a little canister. Time passed and a family friend, upon seeing the plant, exclaimed: "That is a stunted tree!" And he gave me my first notebook with techniques for cultivating bonsai. I had never heard of them."

From then on, he dedicated himself to the study of this very complex ancient practice. With time and self-instruction, he came to dominate the secrets for obtaining the delicate subsoil which nurtures bonsai. He also acquired the necessary skill for the pruning, watering, wiring and other procedures essential to shape these small forms.

"...Painting is two-dimensional. Sculpture is three-dimensional. And the bonsai is three-dimensional but sequential in time, because it is a living being. For that reason, its formation will never end."

We walk through the distinctive garden of his house in the suburb of Lutgardita, some 20 kilometres southwest of Havana. Thus begins a fascinating journey. First, Moya informs us, we need to know how to identify them. "Some people say to me: ‘Do you know that the roofs of Old Havana are full of bonsai?' Those aren't bonsai. Bonsai is after it has a relationship with the flowerpot: Bon, plate; sai, tree."

To achieve harmony, planting must be done in a pot with a length two-thirds the overall size of the tree, a width half the size of the tree, and the height equal to the diameter of the trunk. "First, so that there is room enough for